Results La Route d'Occitanie 2026 Stage 2 | Noa Isidore wins tight Saint-Gaudens sprint after Decathlon hit front late
Cycling
Noa Isidore sprinted to victory on Stage 2 of La Route d'Occitanie 2026, giving Decathlon CMA CGM Team the win after a fast, controlled finale in Saint-Gaudens.
The Frenchman crossed the line first after 200.5km from Cordes-sur-Ciel, beating Ronan Auge of Unibet Rose Rockets and Matteo Moschetti of Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team in a close finish.
Axel Zingle took fourth for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, with Stage 1 winner Thibaud Gruel fifth for Groupama-FDJ United.
Gruel launched the sprint inside the final few hundred metres after Groupama-FDJ United had again been visible at the front, but Decathlon had already moved into position with three riders towards the head of the bunch before the final kilometre. Isidore finished it off to take a notable win before the race heads towards its decisive climbing test.
Huck survives longest from the break
The stage had earlier been shaped by a six-man breakaway of Theo Delacroix, Leandre Huck, Alexander Konijn, Laurens Huys, Cristian Damian Velez and Alexis Pagara. Groupama-FDJ United kept the move under control for much of the day while protecting Gruel’s race lead, with the gap hovering around two minutes through the middle of the stage.
Delacroix continued to collect points in the King of the Mountains competition, taking the Cote de Montgaillard ahead of Huck and Huys. Huck later emerged as the last survivor from the break, briefly pressing on alone before the peloton closed him down on the final lap in Saint-Gaudens.
The late Cote de La Serre de Nerous, 1.5km at 5.8%, helped stretch the bunch and brought more movement before the final run-in. Lukas Nerurkar, Davide Piganzoli and Simon Guglielmi picked up bonus seconds on the first passage of the finish line, while attacks from Yohann Simon and Joris Chaussinand were also brought back before the sprint.
Groupama-FDJ United and Bardiani CSF 7 Saber were among the teams keeping the race together late on, before Decathlon moved forward at the decisive moment. A crash involving Daniel Cavia was recorded inside the final 2km, but the stage victory was decided from the reduced front group, with Isidore denying Auge and Moschetti at the line.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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